Ukraine said it has finished repairing a damaged section of the Druzhba oil pipeline and is preparing to restart flows, a step Zelenskyy said is tied to unlocking a European Union support package. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said the pipeline repairs followed a Russian strike damage and that the Druzhba system could resume operation, while adding that Russia could attempt to hit the infrastructure again.
“Ukraine has completed repair work on the section of the Druzhba oil pipeline that was damaged by a Russian strike. The pipeline can resume operation,” Zelenskyy wrote. He also said that, while no guarantee exists that Russia will not repeat attacks, Ukrainian specialists had ensured “the basic conditions for restoring the operation of the pipeline system and equipment.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine connected the repairs to the unblocking of European support for Ukraine that had already been approved by the European Council. The Druzhba pipeline issue had become contentious and delayed approval of a major EU loan package worth 90 billion euros ($106 billion), intended to back Ukraine’s military and economic needs over the next two years, according to the reporting.
The dispute that affected the loan unfolded as Russian oil deliveries became entangled with EU politics. The reporting said Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia were halted for two months after what Ukrainian officials described as Russian drone attacks damaged the pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory, and that continuous strikes create risks for technicians carrying out repairs.
The war that set the broader context for the pipeline dispute began in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the report said. It noted that before being unseated by challenger Péter Magyar, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine, and that both Hungary and Slovakia accused Kyiv of blocking Russian deliveries.
Zelenskyy also said earlier this month that he was reluctant to allow Russian oil to continue transiting through Ukraine. Separately, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters in Luxembourg after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers that the loan saga had taken “many twists and turns,” and she said: “We expect an agreement in 24 hours, so I don’t want to jinx it.”
EU envoys were due to meet Wednesday in hopes of ending the standoff, the report said. Antonio Costa, who is set to chair a summit of EU leaders starting Thursday, posted on social media thanking Zelenskyy for “delivering, as agreed: repairing the Druzhba pipeline and restoring its operation.”
The EU loan debate has also reflected constraints beyond the pipeline itself. The report said the EU had planned to use Russian assets frozen in Europe as collateral for the loan, but that option was blocked by Belgium, where much of the frozen assets are held. It said that in December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed they would not stop EU partners from borrowing on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme, but Orbán later reneged amid the pipeline dispute as campaigning heated up ahead of elections earlier this month.
As Europe prepares to decide on the financing package, Ukraine’s leadership has framed the Druzhba repair as both a technical milestone and a condition for restoring a stalled flow of support from European institutions.